Ok, having never been to Champs before and not having seen any information on warm-up areas and such I have panicked and entered ALL THE THINGS, ie. Pre-champs, side entries, etc. Perhaps when the details become clearer it may not be in my best interest to do EVERYTHING. Are the rules for withdrawing entries prior to closing for Pre-champs and side entries the same as at typical trials? I was concerned that after two days in an RV my dogs would spend long days in their crates with no more than a warm up jump.... Any details on warm-up areas available would be much appreciated.

Pre-trial = normal runs that occur on the tuesday and Wednesday before the main event. These have no bearing on your scores for champs.

Side runs = nornal runs that occur on the same days as champs. These also have no bearing on your scores for champs.

For a normal warm up we will have a designated area you can use that is part of the staging area. Since we are doing the side runs this year it will probably consist of 2-3 hoops and a couple jumps.

For refunds it depends how close to the event you cancel. I need to find yhr exact verbiage and dates used from last year though so i don't post the wrong thing but any money that doesn't get refunded to you can still be used for anything you would normally pay nadac for, so nadac hosted trials, registration fees, that sort of thing. So you're not totally SOL if you cancel the week before

Thanks Chris. That helps! I wouldn't anticipate withdrawing that close to the event except in case of emergency. I was wondering more about before the August 1st deadline. With the 200 run limit on side runs I wanted to secure runs, particularly for my baby dog, so she has some good solid warm-up time. 😊 On the other side some have advised that it's not a good idea for a newbie because of potential conflicts. I'm still weighing the pros and cons! Thanks again for your response!

Loved having the dog walk in the warm up area last year. Will that be the case this year as well?

We still have to make a final decision on that one. There has been a lot of emails sent to me both for it, and against it.

So we'll see

I didn't email, and it wasn't a BIG distraction. But having dogs running over the dog walk while I had my dog at the startline was a distraction. I would look back and see his neck craned around watching the dog walk. Maybe a training issue, but not one we normally encounter. And maybe not a true comparison - but it seems that the dog that is intensely running the dog walk is not a dog that is then distracted once they get to the startline. So maybe those handlers don't recognize how distracting it can be.

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Marcy, Toby, Dublin and Odie===============I want to be runnin' when the sand runs out.

I agree with Marcy on that one - In 2015 Springfield, from the stands, I saw so so many dogs in the Que distracted by what was going on in the warm up area - dogs slamming through tunnels and over dog walk, handlers yelling cues or corrections - and although you say judges are there to prevent it, when we were in Springfield last, people WERE indeed drilling dogs in that area. That is the only thing I did not like about the last champs in Springfield...

My thought is people pay a LOT of money to run their dogs in Champs - The dogs on the line or in the Que are the most important ones at that given moment and they should not be distracted - conversely - People pay a lot of money to go to champs and should be allowed to warm their dogs up - I get that - but doing obstacles is not the only way to warm up a dog (and not always the safest way IMO)

I will say that although Kiva was not affected by it at Springfield - Zoe is likely to be distracted by it this year as a green dog to champs and an evironmentally sensitive dog as well -

Yep, what Marcy and Maureen said. Both of my dogs were distracted (not much, but definitely noticeable) by dogs on the dogwalk.

I love an opportunity to "warm up" - but warming up on the dogwalk just seems like reof distraction.medial training to me. JMHO.

diane[/quoteI have to agree with Diane on the DW thing. I know this is not an ordinary trial, but to my knowledge, dogs had have never an opportunity to warm up on any contact equipment. How would anyone train for that type of distraction?Linda

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Linda W. Anderson - Dogs have only one fault, their lives are too short!

The reason we give them more obstacles to warm up on, as mentioned before, is that we really hate having folks spend an entire year to get to champs, and then blow their runs.

It's nice to let people get the bugs out a bit and have nice good runs that make the competition fun and competitive.

Regardless of what happens with the warm up area, the side runs are happening in the same arena. It will be as far away from the main ring as possible. But that happening is a 100% sure thing at this point. So there will be that distraction to work with. Which again, should not be a terrible issue for a Championship level dog.

Also not to really beat on this anymore...but for 15+ years we had two ring trials running at the same time. Sometimes 3 and 4 rings.

It was never an issue back then, and that was at a regular weekend trial where the caliber of your averagr dog was much lower than what's expected at champs.

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In the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, I've not heard of or seen a 2 ring trial in at least 5 years, so some dogs have never experience that and likely never will until they go to Champs or NADAC numbers grow to past numbers where a 2 ring trial is doable again.

CPE and CKC nationals have had 6 rings run at the same time, all next to each other. No real issues.

But then, it seems a lot of people here do NADAC only, and may never have entered multiple ring trials, based on how often I have seen people chastised on this forum for mentioning other venues.

The defense being used here is that a dog who qualifies for champs should be able to handle nearby busy-ness. Does hinge on what people are used to? Are you trying to recreate the NADAC experience at champs? How many multi-ring trials have been held in NADAC this past year? Is that a way to define what to do about contact use near the champs ring?